Cinderford made the long journey up North to Darlington MP but were in the end well beaten by a home team who played some expansive rugby to earn themselves a bonus point victory.
The Forest side wasted no time in showing the strength of their driving maul, with flanker Dec Fissenden crashing over from a 5m lineout after 10 minutes. The home team replied soon after though, with Morgan Passman breaking a tackle out wide after a stolen lineout from Ollie Hodgson and feeding Liam Checksfield who dived over to level the scores. It didn’t take long for Mowden to score their second, with Matt Minogue finishing off a flowing move after a well-timed pass from Joe Craggs.
Craggs had a big hand in Mowden’s third too, stealing a Cinderford lineout before Ollie Hodgson dived over under the posts after being put through by Callum Pascoe. Cinderford hit back through debutant winger Will Anderson, who dived over in the far corner to make it 21-10 to the home team at the interval.
The visitors were right back in it soon after the break when the league’s top try scorer Nathan Taylor profited from another driving maul in ominous fashion and at this stage the home fans would be forgiven for expecting another nervy finish at the Arena, but Mowden enjoyed their best spell of the game to dominate the next 20 minutes and put the game to bed. First Minogue darted over for his second after some sustained pressure on the Cinderford line, before Ollie Walker fed Morgan Passman on the left for the winger’s 14th try of the campaign. Minogue converted, giving Mowden a solid lead heading into the final stages.
Cinderford fought hard late on for what would arguably have been a deserved bonus point, but the home side defended well to see out an impressive home win.
Cinderford; Mike Austin, Will Anderson, George Boulton, Tom Samak, Mason Tonks, Mike Wilcox, Jimmy Williams, George Porter, Nathan Taylor, Shaun Knight, Tyler Jerrum, Jack Shields, Matt Lane, Dec Fissenden, Harry Hone (Capt.)
Repls; Harry Edwards, Tim Brockett, Jonny Holliday, Louis Jayne, Clive Stuart-Smith.